Hi,
I took the SAT without essay in 10th grade in November 2016 because it was required for an early college/high school program that I was going for. I scored 1470 (710 Verbal, 760 Math). I “actually” took it on November 2017 and scored a disappointing 1460 (700 Verbal, 760 Math) considering a whole year went by and I only dropped 10 points but I managed a 22/24 on the essay. I studied intensely for the March 2018 and scored a 1580 (790 Verbal, 790 Math) but didn’t put as much effort into the essay and scored a mere 15/24 on the essay. I was wondering how importance is this essay score in terms of college admissions and my SAT score (I always thought of it as insignificant but I was just wondering)? Also, I scored a 1480 on my PSAT during 11th grade (730 Verbal, 750 Math) with an index score of 221 and was wondering if I would be able to get National Merit Scholar? I understand the qualifying scores vary from year to year but was just curious on my chances of becoming a National Merit Scholar.
I don’t know of any school that uses the essay portion. And you are actually asking about becoming NM Semifinalist. I don’t think the scores have come out yet this year.
@DallasBrownBoy i will take it a few steps further than the reply above. First, the essay is really not required by most colleges as they probably see how silly it is to do an essay so fast and the scores are very subjective. I personally would not take the test again as a 1580 is amazing. In terms of sending scores to college, it will depend on which schools you apply to on what you have to send. Some colleges will require all of your SAT scores be sent (entire testing history) and then schools will see your improvement AND the great 22/24 essay. If you can send in what you want, then sending in the 1580 with the lower essay score is fine. Most colleges don’t even consider or look at the essay score. NOW, on the National Merit Scholar it will depend on which state you are in. I will assume from your user name - Texas? If so, the guesstimate for The class of 2019 is that the index will be 221. It was 221 for class of 2018. Of course this could change, but won’t be known until later this year (I think August or September). Good luck!!!
Thank you for the response! Clarified some doubts that I had, appreciate it.
@DallasBrownBoy
Essays are only used by colleges to gauge how well a student can write so they can see if your college app essays were written by you. If the score does not correlate with the quality of your writing, it may hurt your application.